


A kind of ache

by Vandereer



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Agender Character, Bodyguard Romance, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Minor Injuries, Nonbinary Zer0, Oneshot, Other, Smoking, rhys fucking goes OFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-13 04:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19244155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vandereer/pseuds/Vandereer
Summary: Zer0 doesn’t like change. Their boyfriend Rhys is now the CEO of a growing arms company, and they’re not sure if they like what it’s doing to him.Takes place between Commander Lilith and Borderlands 3.





	A kind of ache

**Author's Note:**

> If you’re reading this in the future; hello! As of writing, Borderlands 3 is not out yet so I’m going on what little I’ve seen from the gameplay trailers. So if I’ve got anything wrong, that is why.  
> (also fuck you, I want to play Borderlands 3 already).  
> (don’t comment if it’s just to say “they/them pronouns are confusing!!” unless you want a whippin’.)
> 
> FUCK HAIKUS!! I’M NOT DOING THEM!! ENJOY!!!

The function room sat near to the top floor of the Atlas corporation building. The windows stretched the entire height of the room, opening out to views of the gargantuan city beyond.

Zer0 didn’t like those windows at all. The more of the room they showed, the easier it would be for a sniper in one of the surrounding buildings to take a shot, or for attackers to break through and storm the building. The beauty of the city lights at night were lost on them, all they could focus on was the potential of being attacked, and their nerves were being worn down.

Zer0 sighed and folded their hands behind their back, they had been there for the past few hours, watching the party go on around them for any signs of danger. The inside of their helmet glowed every time a new face appeared, scanning for weak points and any changes in heart rate or blood pressure. They would be the first to know if anyone planned on killing Zer0’s boss.

Zer0 rubbed a hand over the back of their neck and grunted as something in their neck popped. Their boss, fanboy, lover. Rhys was a lot of things, but Zer0 wasn’t sure if they liked the boss part of him much.

Rhys seemed to be more or less at home chatting with potential investors, rubbing shoulders with aristocrats from all over the star system and laughing it up with people who had more money than common sense. They surrounded the man, scrutinising him like a piece of meat. It would be all too easy for one of them to pull a gun or slip poison into the drinks he was throwing back.

None of the other Vault Hunters had been invited, it would only bore them, but Zer0 had been an official part of Atlas for some time now. They longed to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Maya, muttering wry comments about people in the crowd, watch Salvador and Krieg attack the buffet table, hide Gaige from sight while she hacked the light system to shoot out real laser fire, or watch Axton try to hit on the Athenian ambassador and fail miserably.

Pity that their friends were scattered all around the worlds now, and they were stuck at a party.

A few heads turned as Zer0 moved off through the throngs of people towards the refreshment table, Rhys nodded at them briefly before turning to laugh at a joke from an Eden-6 warlord. Zer0 moved past the tower of champagne glasses and punch bowls and headed for the water cooler.

When they first decided to date Rhys, they never expected that being ignored was something that would ever happen. But things changed. Whether he was busy with work or Zer0 was busy killing people for him, they just ran out of time to do what couples usually do.

Rhys hired them to watch his back while he got Atlas off the ground, which they did for a fraction of the price they would usually ask, more of a favour for a friend than actual employment.

But since Atlas turned into a real competitor for Dahl, Maliwan and the others, Rhys had become more distant. He had also grown a moustache. They had a long conversation with him about that, eventually making their peace and accepting that he wasn’t going to shave it.

Zer0 stalked away to find a quiet place to have a drink and headed for the glass doors that led to the balcony. They opened a small compartment of their helmet near their mouth and locked the water bottle into it, it conveniently hid their mouth from view, but they preferred to do it in privacy either way.

The peace of the outdoors was nice, until the door banged open behind them and a very red-faced Rhys stumbled through.

“Oh, Zer0!” he gasped, “Hey, I don’t suppose you uh- have any water?”  
Zer0 shoved the drink at him without moving their head to acknowledge him.

“Thanks…”

In the past, Rhys had chided Zer0 for being silent about things that troubled them in their relationship, but it still continued to be a tough habit to break.

“Everything okay?” Rhys said.

“Yes.”

“Any terrorists or murderers lurking about?”

“Not presently.”

“What about assassins?” Rhys said, with a hint of a chuckle.  
“None, except this one.” Zer0 muttered.

Rhys drank down the water in several huge gulps with a mildly orgasmic gasp. He shoved the empty bottle back into Zer0’s hands.

“I tell you, it’s exhausting in there. My jaw is locking up from talking so much!”  
“Hm.” Zer0 said.

The door opened behind them and Zer0 turned around fluidly to check. It was Katagawa, touching his pompadour and his yellow ECHO-Eye twinkling with amusement.

“Ah hello Rhys!” Katagawa said, “Hope you don’t mind if I join you.”

“H-hello Mr uh…” Rhys said, trailing off, “Sorry, I’ve had to learn a lot of new names tonight.”

Zer0 could swear he saw Katagawa’s eyelid twitch.

“Katagawa Jr.”

“Oh right, right!”

Rhys and the man shook hands, while Zer0 watched him carefully. Katagawa’s smile was a little too wide, and didn’t quite reach his eyes. He looked as trustworthy as a sand worm and Zer0 didn’t want to take their eyes off him. Their hand moved to the Judge pistol shoved into their belt and gently touched the handle.

“Would you care to join me for a cigar, Mr Strongfork?” Katagawa said, “Real romaburn, I had them imported specially.”

“That would be lovely!” Rhys said, while Zer0 knew for a fact that Rhys never smoked so much as an Effluvium Inhaler in his life. Rhys put the cigar between his teeth while Katagawa lit it for him, and Zer0 had to repress the urge to knock the damn thing out of his mouth. It looked so wrong on him, and ‘douchey’ for lack of a better word.

“L-lovely.” Rhys said, choking as he tried to inhale the cigar smoke. Katagawa smiled, probably too polite to mention that you’re only supposed to pull the smoke into your mouth, not inhale it completely. Rhys’ face slowly turned brick-red as he exhaled and tried to look like that was intentional.

Katagawa’s smile grew as he lit up his own cigar. Zer0 clenched one long hand around the Judge pistol at their hip, almost wishing Katagawa would pull out a knife so they would have the excuse to kill him.

“I was most fortunate to get you alone, I have a proposition for you.”

He turned and glared petulantly up at Zer0, acknowledging them for the first time.

“Maybe your waiter would be kind enough to fetch me another drink, so we may discuss it in private.”

The hand on their Judge started shaking violently as they resisted the urge to draw it and shoot the man in the face.

“I am _not_ a waiter.” Zer0 said, trying their hardest to keep their voice steady. Rhys laughed awkwardly and reached up to squeeze Zer0’s shoulder.

“Zer0 is my personal bodyguard, and a very… _very_ good friend of mine.” Rhys said, with a fond look in his mis-matched eyes that would make Zer0 melt if they weren’t so angry.

Katagawa smirked.

“So a guard dog, do they know any tricks?”

 _I can show you a few._ Zer0 thought.

Rhys seemed to sense the tension and gave their shoulder another squeeze.

“We’re fine here Zer0, maybe go check out the buffet table, I think they had a few of those peppered scaylion things you like.

Zer0 inclined their head and turned one last time, making sure Katagawa wasn’t looking before projecting (ಠ益ಠ┌∩┐) at the back of his head. Rhys had to cover his mouth with his hand to stop himself spluttering all over the man as Zer0 left. Zer0 felt a real smile tugging at the corners of their mouth for the first time that evening.

They pushed aside the door wearily and linked their HUD into the building’s security. It didn’t take them too long to find the balcony camera and they listened to Katagawa and Rhys’s conversation as they picked disinterestedly over the canapés on the table.

“My proposition is to merge Atlas and Maliwan, become the biggest arms company the system has ever seen! Think of the profits. With Atlas’s worth as it is right now I could offer you say… 70-30?”

“That’s uh- very kind of you but uh-”

Zer0 watched from over Katagawa’s shoulder as the man smushed his finger against Rhys’ lips, and resisted the urge to dive back out there and shove Katagawa off the roof.

“No, don’t refuse just yet. Atlas is a small company still, we can help you grow exponentially and keep you safe.”  
An almost seductive tone crept into Katagawa’s voice and Zer0 scowled down at a plate of miniature cheeseburgers. Cheeseburgers weren’t standard fare for fancy parties, yet shrink them down and put a cocktail stick in them and suddenly they were haute cuisine.

“Buh- whu-” Rhys stammered, “What do you mean ‘keep safe’?”  
“There’s a war coming Mr Strongfork. We already have the power to dismantle Atlas piece-by-piece.”  
Katagawa let out a mildly hysterical laugh.

“But I would rather you join with me, I want you on my side Rhys.”

Zer0 watched Rhys on the camera feed as he tried to edge away from the man while tossing the unsmoked stub of his cigar over his shoulder.

“Thanks but this is… This is a really big decision, I’ll have to talk to a bunch of different people and-”

Katagawa moved in front of the door, cutting off Rhys’s retreat.

“No, I want an answer _now!_ I swear, I can have an army at your door in the next five minutes. _”_

Zer0 was already moving towards the door, but stopped when Rhys shot out his cybernetic arm and grabbed Katagawa by the lapels of his suit.

“Listen Junior, do you know what kind of hell I went through to get Atlas to where it is now?” Rhys said, in a dark tone that sent shivers up Zer0’s spine. “I’m not going to stand here and be threatened by someone who rode his daddy’s coattails all the way to the top. I _bled_ for this.”

Rhys shoved his face closer to Katagawa’s and showed a hint of teeth, a side of himself Zer0 had never seen.

“I suggest you leave. Oh, and my ‘ _waiter’_ is in that room, listening to this conversation right now. You’d better watch your back on the way out, unless you’d like a really cool sword jammed in it.”

Rhys roughly let go of Katagawa’s suit and shoved him back a few steps.

Zer0 could only see Rhys’s face from the angle of the cameras, but they could easily visualize how angry Katagawa looked as they stepped back towards the doors.

“I’ll make you see yet, Strongfork. This isn’t over.”

Zer0’s visualization was more or less accurate as they turned to see Katagawa storming back into the room, trying to re-adjust his rumpled suit. He glanced over at Zer0, then quickly away as he pushed through the crowded room.

Rhys walked up to the table and glanced at Zer0.

“Uh, you _were_ listening to that, right? I wasn’t just trying to bluff my way out…”  
“Yes Rhys, I was listening.” Zer0 said, “I hope you did not make light of his threat.”

“Yeah, well… I didn’t like the way he kept talking about you. And 70-30? what a _prick!”_

Zer0 purred out a small chuckle and reached out to twine their long fingers with Rhys’s short ones. Telling Rhys they required attention from him was an ongoing struggle, they were trying to summon the words, to ask him to go to a quiet room for a few moments when something popped up on their HUD.

Zer0 projected (!) as the sensors on the building picked up something approaching very quickly.

“Rhys, get down.”

He knew better than to stop and ask them questions, Rhys dived under the buffet table just as the window above them shattered inwards. An enormous metal ball came crashing down on top of them. Zer0 barely had time to draw their sword and deflect it away from the table.

The ball unfolded itself into a sleek blue and orange robot, which proceeded to riddle Zer0 and the table behind them with bullets. Their shield ate most of it, but still propelled them backwards and into a pile of broken glass and squished canapés.

Zer0 expected Katagawa’s retaliation to be fast, but not this fast. They leapt over the table, their HUD flashing red with numerous weak-points. They planned to slice under the guarded shoulder and aim for the joint, when the robot’s other arm came swinging across and caught Zer0 in the ribs. They uttered a small cry as they went flying across the room, their sword going the opposite way.

The party-goers alternated between screaming and running, and stopping to record videos for the ECHO-net. Zer0 slapped an ECHO-recorder out of a man’s hand as he pointed it directly in their face. Their first and only concern was for Rhys, towards whom the robot was locking its sights on. Zer0 pulled the pistol from their belt, wishing they had brought something better against metal, and leapt onto its back. They shoved the muzzle right against the dome of the robot’s head and unloaded as many rounds as they could before it threw them clean across the room again, this time they landed right at Rhys’s feet.

“Here, your sword!” Rhys said, thrusting the hilt into their hands.

“How kind of you.” Zer0 said, projecting a wink as they wobbled to their feet.  
They activated the glowing blue blade just as the Maliwan robot produced a curved blade from its elbow, a curved hunk of metal built for clumsy, heavy hits rather than Zer0’s brand of fine surgery.

“Rhys, head for the safe room, it is your head they are targeting.”  
“O-okay.”

Zer0 sensed his reluctance to leave them, but was relieved when they looked over their shoulder and found him gone.

The robot fired up boosters on its arms and feet and shot forward at blistering speed. Zer0 leapt into the air and dived towards its shoulders, bringing their sword down into the connectors around its head, but found it too guarded to sever completely. The robot groaned with something like anger and flailed wildly in its attempts to throw them off. Zer0 leapt easily into the air, then grunted with surprise as it fired its boosters up to slam into them. It kept going straight into the ceiling and sent Zer0 crashing into the hanging light fixtures. Hot sparks from the exploding lightbulbs burned into their suit and made their HUD flicker with static. All of Zer0’s breath escaped their lungs as it crushed them against the ceiling and it was all they could do to keep a grip on their sword. They fell limply through the air, with a hand fumbling to activate Decepti0n.

The robot took a swing but missed, confused at its target suddenly disappearing. Zer0 landed heavily on the floor and dashed out of the robot’s range as it smashed back down.

Zer0 touched a hand to their chest, a wide slash had cut their armor open from collarbone to hip and they were breathing hard.

 _I must finish this quickly, before I am exhausted_.

They sliced out at the robot’s knees, then up at its shoulder from behind, to their satisfaction one of the arms crashed to the ground before Decepti0n finished. The bladed arm swung out at them again, but they severed it before it could make contact, leaving the robot struggling to move on its broken knees.

“Send something a little sturdier next time, Katagawa.”

Zer0 snarled as they raised their sword over their shoulder and slashed at the robot’s head, finally severing it the rest of the way and leaving the head dangling forlornly on its wires.

They leapt backwards as the robot swayed forward, only for it to land drunkenly on its back.

(∅)

Zer0 sat back on their haunches as they fought to catch their breath.

A projection flashed up from the fallen robot, showing Katagawa’s head and shoulders. He clapped his hands slowly.

“A very fine show, Zer0.”

“I did tell you, I am no waiter.” Zer0 panted.

“Yes yes, you’re Rhys’s very good friend, aren’t you? I did a little research. A lone assassin turned lap-dog, a little sad isn’t it?”

“No, it is not. Because I have something I want to protect now.”

Katagawa merely snorted.

“Well I thought I’d let you know that I can Digistruct them by the dozen and send them at you whenever I want! You and your boss are going to lose everything. Atlas _will_ be mine!”  
Zer0 sighed as they rose to their feet, tired of this man and his theatrics. They slashed out at the projector and the small light fizzled, taking the projection and the man’s irritating voice with it.

Rhys’s voice crackled through their helmet.

“Hey Zer0, I’ve activated our defences, Katagawa shouldn’t be able to pull that crap again. Are you alright?”

“That is a good question.”

Zer0 pressed a hand to their bleeding chest and their white glove came away red. The function room was thoroughly destroyed, a troop of Atlas soldiers started trickling into the room to start dragging the robot away, while having to step around broken tables and glass.

“Come to the safe room, okay? I have a medical station in here.”

 

“Rhys, it is me.” Zer0 said, as they knocked on the heavy metal doors of the safe room.

The door slid open and Rhys paled at the blood on their suit. They projected (>:D) but couldn’t hide their limp as they walked in, or the way they reflexively held a hand over their cracked ribs.

“The robot is finished, but there will be more.”

“Yeah… I saw the whole thing.” Rhys stepped towards them and raked a hand through his hair.

“Zer0 I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have threatened Katagawa, we’re- Atlas I mean… it isn’t strong enough to go around threatening people like that.”

“If it means getting any attention from you these days, I do not mind throwing myself into danger, boss.”

Zer0 slumped into a chair with their sword still clenched in their hand, the blade dripping with hydraulic fluid and oil.

Rhys slowly stepped over to them, a crease between his eyebrows.

“Oh Zer0… I just assumed- Cause we’ve been so busy… I never meant to make you feel like you had to do _this_ to…”  
“It is my job, isn’t it? I don’t mind.”

Zer0 slouched further into the chair and took the medical syringe that Rhys offered them. They jabbed the needle into their thigh and winced a little as it started to stop the bleeding and knit together their broken ribs.

Their placating tone didn’t seem to help, the intense look of worry on Rhys’s face was almost too much for them to bear.

Rhys stepped forward and cupped Zer0’s helmet in both of his hands, desperately smashing his lips against the lower half of it.

Zer0 projected a small (////) as his lips moved over the smooth polycarbonate. Zer0 finally dropped their sword and reached up to stroke their fingers through his hair. They pressed their own mouth to the inside of their helmet over his. Even through their helmet, the tenderness of it made them ache, a good kind of ache that made the pain in their body all but forgotten for a few moments.

“I hope you felt that.” Rhys said, smiling as Zer0 bumped their head against the spot between his neck and chin.

Zer0 reached up to stroke Rhys’s face, running their thumb over his lower lip.

“I can always feel it.”

 

***

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Zerhys treehouse and it is a Katagawa-free zone. No Maliwan or Hyperion execs allowed.  
> Deuces, nerds.
> 
> (WHU FORGOT TO THANK LOGAN FOR BETA READING AGAIN I SUCKK. Also extra special thanks for helping me figure out a name for whatever the hell Zer0's helmet is made out of.)


End file.
